そう

• 読み: そう
• ローマ字: sou
• 発音: /soː/

意味

Appearing that; seeming that; looking like. Also used to agree: 'yes, that's right.'

A highly versatile word with multiple uses. As an auxiliary (〜そう), it attaches to verb stems or adjective stems to express appearance or likelihood (おいしそう = looks delicious). As a standalone response, そう or そうです means 'that's right.' Part of the ko-so-a-do demonstrative system.

例文

1. 明日は雨が降りそうです。
2. そうですね、私もそう思います。
3. このケーキはおいしそうですね。

使い方ガイド

場面: conversation, descriptions, agreement

トーン: neutral

起源と歴史

From Old Japanese demonstrative system. そう belongs to the 'so' series indicating things related to the listener or previously mentioned. As an auxiliary expressing appearance, it derives from 様 (sama/sou, appearance).

文化的背景

時代: Ancient

世代: All ages

社会的背景: Universal